DEEP CONVECTIVE CLOUDS WHICH STRONGLY COUPLE THE WATER AND ENERGY CYCLES IS A CRITICAL ELEMENT IN WEATHER AND CLIMATE SYSTEMS. THE EXISTING LARGE TROPICAL PRECIPITATION BIASES IN GCMS INDICATE THE LOW FIDELITY OF GCM-SIMULATED TROPICAL DEEP CONVECTIVE SYSTEMS. CONVECTIVE CLOUDS ARE ALSO THE ESSENTIAL PART OF MAJOR MODES OF TROPICAL VARIABILITY. MOREOVER TROPICAL DEEP CONVECTIVE CLOUDS ALSO CONTROL HIGH CLOUD DISTRIBUTIONS IN THE REGION THROUGH DETRAINMENT PROCESS WHICH IS STILL POORLY UNDERSTOOD AND SIMULATED. OUR UNDERSTANDING OF INTERACTIONS AMONG LARGE-SCALE DYNAMICS CONVECTION AND RADIATION IS ALSO LIMITED. THE SEASONAL AND INTERANNUAL TROPICAL DEEP CONVECTIVE CLOUD VARIATIONS OFFER A PATHWAY TO STUDY THESE INTERACTIONS AND TO UNDERSTAND THE RELATED PROCESSES. WITH MULTI-PLATFORM AND MULTI-SENSOR DATA FUSION WE PROPOSE TO BETTER DOCUMENT AND UNDERSTAND THE SEASONAL AND INTERANNUAL TROPICAL DEEP CONVECTIVE CLOUD VARIATIONS WITH FOLLOWING THREE SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES: 1) CHARACTERIZE TROPICAL CONVECTIVE CLOUD SYSTEM PROPERTIES AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS. BY FUSING TERRA AQUA CLOUDSAT CALIPSO AND GEOSTATIONARY SATELLITE CLOUD MEASUREMENTS AND SEVERAL EXISTING DATASETS AN INTEGRATED DATASET OF CLOUD PRECIPITATION SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE PRECIPITABLE WATER VAPOR AND WIND AT DAILY SCALE WILL BE DEVELOPED TO DOCUMENT CONVECTIVE CLOUD PROPERTIES AND TO CHARACTERIZE THEIR DYNAMICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS. THE COLLOCATED MODIS (MODERATE-RESOLUTION SPECTRORADIOMETER) CLOUDSAT CLOUD PROFILING RADAR (CPR) AND CALIPSO CLOUD- AEROSOL LIDAR WITH ORTHOGONAL POLARIZATION (CALIOP) MEASUREMENTS WILL BE USED AS GUIDANCE TO IMPROVE OUR CAPABILITIES TO USE PASSIVE SENSOR MEASUREMENTS TO BETTER CHARACTERIZE CONVECTIVE CLOUD STRUCTURE AND PROPERTIES SO THAT WE CAN USE PASSIVE CLOUD MEASUREMENTS TO PROVIDE NEEDED SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL COVERAGE TO STUDY TROPICAL CONVECTIVE SYSTEM VARIATIONS. 2) DOCUMENT POTENTIAL SAMPLING BIASES IN THE A-TRAIN SATELLITE CLOUD MEASUREMENTS. FOR THIS STUDY MAJOR UNCERTAINTY COMES FROM SPATIAL OR TEMPORAL SAMPLING BIASES. THE SPATIAL SAMPLING BIASES OF CPR AND CALIOP MEASUREMENTS WILL BE EVALUATED WITH WIDE SWATH MODIS MEASUREMENTS. 3-HOURLY GEOSTATIONARY SATELLITE MEASUREMENTS WILL BE USED TO EVALUATE MODIS POTENTIAL TEMPORAL SAMPLING BIASES FOR TROPICAL CONVECTIVE CLOUD STUDIES. THE EVALUATION OF THE INTEGRATED DATASET WOULD BUILD OUR CONFIDENCE TO USE IT MORE EFFECTIVELY. 3) UNDERSTAND THE SEASONAL AND INTERANNUAL VARIATIONS OF TROPICAL CONVECTIVE CLOUD SYSTEMS. WITH THE FUSED DATASET ABOVE WE WILL SEEK TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING SPECIFIC QUESTIONS: (A) HOW OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC STATES AND DIFFERENT SCALES OF WAVE ACTIVITIES CONTROL THE INTERANNUAL TROPICAL CONVECTIVE CLOUD SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION SHIFTING? (B) HOW CONVECTIVE DETRAINMENT VARIES REGIONALLY AND SEASONALLY? (C) HOW DO CONVECTIVE AGGREGATIONS EVOLVE IN TROPICS AND CONTROL REGIONAL DEEP CONVECTIVE CLOUD DISTRIBUTION AND PROPERTIES? THE BETTER DOCUMENTATION AND UNDERSTANDING OF SEASONAL AND INTERANNUAL TROPICAL DEEP CONVECTIVE CLOUD VARIATIONS WILL ADVANCE OUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE PROCESSES CONTROLLING CONVECTIVE CLOUD SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL DISTRIBUTION AND DETRAINMENT AND REDUCE RELATED MODEL UNCERTAINTIES IN THE FUTURE. THE PROPOSED RESEARCH WILL CONTRIBUTE TO NASA WEATHER CLIMATE VARIABILITY&CHANGE AND WATER AND ENERGY CYCLE FOCUS AREAS.